A Birthday
by G. Sun
Summary: Mia dives deeper into Don's shrouded past and discovers some surprising things about what he really is. When the tale of Don and Angelica come to an end, how will Mia be able to with Don in his strange state of mind? Will Mia use his vulnerability to escape her prison once and for all? Read after DON'S ORIGINS.
1. Chapter 1

**A continuation of Don and Angelica, my little bbies.**

"Professor, isn't that enough? She can barely stand."

"Since when have you cared?"

"It's not a matter of caring," I look past the bullet-proof glass and at the orb Mia is suppressing her screams in. "She's been through a lot. She needs more time to rest."

"If her vitals are fine, as indicated here," the Professor jabs at the screen pointing to Mia's fluctuating vitals and a diagram of her body. "Then she's being tested. Besides this is the last test and then I'm going to spend the next two days analyzing. Friday is her last day, remember that Don."

"How can I forget?"

* * *

In just a day, Seth is coming to end this world and everything else. Why can't he just leave me alone? Some part of me wants to stay safe behind these bars that keep everyone out. Don is going to make sure I'm trapped here for sure, but for how much longer until they don't need me anymore for whatever the Professor has in store?

"Are you-going to finish that story?" I ask Don feebly, wondering how much he must hate me by now. I screamed at him and lost control of myself yesterday, I must seem like a lunatic to him whose lost grasp of reality. If I only-if I only I was strong enough to beat Seth the first time we fought, I wouldn't be here. I squirm in my fresh undergarments and clean shorts, waiting for an answer. He clears his throat and continues to tell the story.

_Angelica was reading in the library, where I had read half of all the books in there. I brought in a tray of the food she had a weakness for. She narrowed her eyes at me and then went back to reading. "What's that?" she asked briskly._

_"A grilled cheese sandwich. You want some?" I uncovered the plate and the bitterness I thought was her face vanished into thin air._

_"Yes!" she dropped the book on the couch and stopped herself from grabbing the other half. Warily, she took it and slowly bit into it. She hummed contentedly as she took more greedy bites of the cheesy sandwich. "You want the rest?" She nodded and I placed the tray in her lap. Seeing her moderately happy made me a little happier. Her cheeriness highlighted the pretty features of her dark face. _

_That night when we were in our room, she spoke to me in a tone softer than her bitter one. "Why did you give me everything?"_

_I shrugged but I doubted she could've seen me in the dark room. "I wasn't hungry. Do you hate me Angelica?" I was impulsive when I was young, I didn't think before I said things. It's almost embarrassing to recall how rash I was back then. Anyway, I saw Angelica's face turn away from me and she folded her arms while sitting up against the wall. _

_"No, I was really upset. Do you...hate me?"_

_"I don't know how to hate people." I was still a stupid child. That ended our midnight discussion and every day after that night, I always brought her grilled cheese sandwiches. One day I dared to ask her about her fits of screaming._

_"The doctor told me that I had an illness that makes me really feeble and shaky all over whenever I'm stressed. I was born with it, I forget the name, it's so long," she explained calmly to my surprise while we walked to our room. "It also causes some skin discoloration and the treatment makes the roots of my hair grey. You can ask the Professor for the name if you're really curious-"_

_I didn't know how to react hearing her talk to me so kindly, I decided then and there that I liked her voice, so I asked her another question. "Why is your hair like that?" She explained how her cousin would come to the hospital to take synthetic hair and twist it within her own hair, making it long and beautiful. She also told me she had a lot of friends at her hospital and told me about a sick boy named Eddie who she really liked but died the day before she had to leave. "One of the scientists visited me and my mom and told us that I'd be better if I came up here and I would get better treatment. My dad figured it was a good idea since that scientist worked with my uncle, Professor Ivory. That's why I got mad that night and had to get taken away, I didn't want to come up here."_

_"Why?"_

_"I didn't want to lose my mom and my friends! I never even-" her anguish dissipated and became sorrowful and regretful. "I never got to go to the carnival Mom promised to take me to. Summer Carnivale." I wasn't sure why but seeing her eyes filled with sorrow made me feel sad. Angelica had an influence on me and I couldn't grasp why back then. All I could tell you was that when she was happy, I was happy and when I overheard her calling her brother tearfully begging him to bring her back home, I felt sad and sometimes angry that I couldn't make her happy. I absorbed every one of Angelica feelings like a sponge. I became a reflection of her more and more each day. Nobody had ever made me feel like that before. So every day I tried to make her feel more welcome up there._

_A year later, Professor Ivory tested us at the same time and he concluded that her illness had significantly improved-he mentioned some biological factors that I couldn't remember-and that my growth was "simply amazing". I was faster, smarter, and according to Professor Ivory I was "starting to look handsome". She changed a lot physically, she was taller, her face had a deeper, richer color, and her chest developed. She was prettier than ever before when she stopped sulking around on the Air Fortress. We had gotten close enough to share intimate details with each other and we would talk about everything as we sat in our spot by the window, looking down at the milky clouds. __"Do you still wish you could go back home?" I asked her._

_"I never went to Summer Carnivale. I was always too sick to go so I guess so," said Angelica forlorn but quickly added cheerily, "But I'm happy up here." She deserved the world and as my best friend, I was going to do everything I could to make sure she was always happy. "Could I ask you something?"_

_"What?" I crossed my legs and turned to her._

_"Why do you and the Professor live up in here in the sky? Haven't you ever wanted to see down there before?" _

_"The Professor always told me that we had to be up here because if other people knew what we were doing, they wouldn't allow it and they would kill the Professor and use me," I answered pensively, now gazing at the clouds slowly moving away from us. "The Professor said I was 'illegal'. But I do want to see what's down there some day."_

_"I don't think you're illegal," replied Angelica sweetly as she rubbed the back of my head. Her touch always felt reassuring to me, that everything would be okay. I decided that I should repay her kindness with giving her what she really wanted. __"Come on, I'll take you somewhere," I took her hand and led her to the escape room added in the basement floor. She asked, "What is this?"_

_"Five escape pods that we can take anywhere we want. I can take us to Summer Carnivale Angelica." Her smile had never been wider. Her arms flew around me and she made gleeful sounds. "For a day."_

_"It's summer right? Today is...June 19! Today is part of the Carnivale! We can go right now?"_

_"Yeah," I hugged her back until she was too jumpy to hug. "You ready to test it out?"_

_"Wait, I have to put on a better outfit! Don you are the best, thank you for doing this for me. I'll go get ready."_

'''

_I helped her out of the pod, her breathing was irregular. We ended up in the bushes and had to wait a while for the area to empty out and once it did I was able to reach Angelica. I wasn't thinking about how much trouble we would get in, just about Angelica's wellbeing. Caring about her made me aloof to everything else. When she began trembling, I held her tightly, listening to her heart pound like drums. She started to scream but cut herself short-she got better at controlling her outbursts. "Are you okay?"_

_"Yeah, I'm ok," she left my embrace and I helped her out of the bushes while plucking out the twigs and leaves that got stuck in her twists. She looked around her old neighborhood with bug eyes and then smiled at me. "This is your first time being on the ground right?"_

_"Yeah," we strolled down the sidewalk as I took in all the sights, the musty smell of the fake lawns, and the sounds of my shoes skidding against the pavement. "It feels strange looking up at the clouds, usually I'm always looking down at them. And-there are real trees here." I tried to keep calm but Angelica could see how excited I was. Excited and naïve. Angelica pointed out the buildings called brownstones, telling me that she wanted to live in one of them when she was older and healthier. Dusk gave the urban suburbia a unique look to it-I didn't miss being in the Air Fortress at all or as Angelica would endearingly call it, "The aerial prison cell". I wanted to run around and explore and talk to everyone but I was ten years old and I didn't have time for all that kiddy stuff._

_We passed by a vendor selling expensive hats and sausages wedged between bread. Suddenly I remembered Angelica's roots-if people saw them, it would cause panic. They'd know she was sick and think she was contagious. While Angelica was trying to use the street signs to remember her way around, I turned back to the hot dog vendor, who was bombarded with other children buying caps and hot dogs probably for the carnival. He wasn't paying attention so I managed to grab a baseball cap off a hook and slipped away inconspicuously. _

_"Okay I think it was this way-oh Don, my hair. People'll-" I placed the cap on head and she pulled it down on her twists with a smile. "Thanks."_

_The Summer Carnivale was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. It seemed as though _the entire world_ came together to play games, squirt guns, throw balls at targets and watch people drop in pools. I made sure to "borrow" some money from the Professor so we could win things; I won Angelica a teddy bear and against my will she forced me to try a funnel cake with her. "It's soooo sweet, don't you think?"_

_"Yeah." It was powdery and tasted like pure sugar, I ended up enjoying the delectable treat. Angelica impatiently tugged me along after I threw the remains in the trash. Children's laughter and tears filled the air; I felt like a normal person, for the first time I was in the presence of so many people who weren't in lab coats. Everyone treated me like a regular ten year old kid, clapping when I won a game and laughing when I took my first bite of the sugary funnel cake. My favorite ride was the Ferris Wheel, the setting sun felt like it was within our reach and it reminded me of the home that was way up there. "Can we stop by Lewis Hospital before we go back up?" Angelica asked as our carriage rocked back and forth from her excited wiggling. "Please?"_

_"Sure thing."_

_Her face lit up as she squeezed the teddy bear. "I'll introduce you to everyone! Maybe Mom will be at home, everyone's really gonna like you as much as I do." Every nice thing Angelica said to me I took to heart, I was still naïve back then. Her words sprouted seeds of hope in my heart, she made me feel like a normal kid and not the superhuman insomniac. "Why're you smiling like that?" she played with her hair while her tangerine sundress fluttered in the wind._

_"I just like it here a lot," I said as I looked up at the setting sky, practically grinning. When we got off the Ferris Wheel, we figured it was time to head to the hospital. We froze when we saw the police cars parked outside the exit, flashing blue and red glaring lights. Angelica and I exchanged anxious glances. "Are they here for us?" People were suddenly panicking and gathering towards the Ferris Wheel._

_"Not sure," I turned us away from the exit and towards the crowd where we wouldn't stick out as much. Through the chaos, I understood that it wasn't us that were the center of attention. At the Ferris wheel, there was a young boy who got stuck up at the top. The cops were telling us to keep back and couldn't do a thing until the fire department came. _

_"We were just up there, that's so scary. I feel so bad for him-he must be scared up there without anybody." I didn't want Angelica to be sad, I hated that more than anything, so I did anything that would make her happy. Even while she screamed my name as I let go of her wrist, I shoved through the crowd and hopped over the barricades with lightning speed- I wasn't smart, I was thinking about Angelica's happiness, I didn't care for kid much. I jumped and latched on the first bar and made my way up. The breeze grew stronger as more people screamed and hollered at me to come down._

_"Young man, get down from there!" The police shouted into their megaphone but I ignored them. Climbing up was easy for me, hopping from gap to gap deftly until I could barely hear the people down below. Before I would leap, I'd give myself momentum by pushing down, making the Ferris wheel rotate slightly as I latched on the next bar. Finally I made it to the frightened kid, with a ruddy face and tearful eyes as he apprehensively watched me climb into the cart. "You can trust me."_

_"Are you Spiderman?"_

_"Yes." He reluctantly stared at my stretched hand with his glassy grey eyes. Whatever Spiderman was, it made me feel strong and capable of doing anything. The blonde kid took my hand and I pulled him into my chest. I got us both out of the swinging cart and he whimpered when the wind became stronger. "We're going down okay? You can trust Spiderman right?"_

_"Mm-hm," he buried his face in my shirt and held on to it. With one hand, I hopped down a few bars and was feeling confident. The horrified screams became cheers below us, filling me with the power I needed to keep going. When I dropped down to the next bar, I lost my footing. The air felt so good cascading on my back. I wrapped my arms around the silent child and looked toward the transparent moon in the dusk sky. The last thing I thought about was how sad Angelica would feel when I landed and then the wailing and howls from the crowd became louder than anything. That was the second time I died in my lifetime._

_J.G.P._


	2. Chapter 2

_I had a dream that instead of me falling from the Ferris Wheel, it was Angelica with no child in her arms. Dropping the teddy bear, I tried to catch her but the overbearing crowd swamped me and she landed with a sickening thud that made me break down in tears. I couldn't push past anybody, the crowd covered her body and wouldn't let me see her. That was the first nightmare I had ever had. What woke me up was the scent of a grilled cheese sandwich. I never slept before and sleeping didn't feel good for me. I gradually sat up and blinked everything into focus, my chest felt as though there was a weight on it. A girl's arms wrapped around me and I sank into her chest, feeling so exhausted. "Don I'm so happy! Oh my goodness!" It was Angelica but she voice was a little bit deeper and gentler. _

_"What-? Huh?" She laid me back down and I finally saw her face. She was paler than I last saw her and she was emaciated when I got a glimpse of her arms. I never thought that she would've gotten sicker. Something in her treatment went wrong I assumed. She was fourteen by then and I was twelve. "Do you remember falling when you tried to save that little boy?" she asked tenderly. The memories of me trying to grab the moon while holding the boy came back fondly._

_"Is he ok?"_

_"Yeah, you saved him about a year and a half ago. You dropped to the ground-I didn't know what to do. You drove away in an ambulance and I-had another outburst. When I came to, the scientists had me back up here and said they would get you back. I'm so glad you're ok, I really missed you. I'm so sorry Don, I'm so sorry."_

_"Don't be," I grunted as I sat up out of bed. "You had nothing to do with it."_

_"I'll stay up here with you forever, please don't take me back down there. I don't want you to get hurt again."_

_"Angelica-"_

_"I don't care if you can't die or whatever! Please just don't take me back down," pleaded Angelica as she hugged me tightly with tears rolling down her face. "Don't do it, don't do it."_

_"I won't." At the same time I promised her that, the door opened and a man who looked like Angelica with more color and vivacity in his eyes stood at the door. "Angelica, I'm here." She picked her head out of my shoulder and turned to the adult in grey uniform. "What? It's been so long you don't recognize your own brother?"_

_"Of course I remember you Mercucio, what're you doing here?" she wiped away her tears quickly. Her brother didn't seem to care that she was crying, maybe he was used to it._

_"You forgot about the millions of phone calls, did you? I'm here to bring you back the hospital, you hate it here don't you?" the grey uniformed man named Mercucio didn't acknowledge me. "I'm sorry it took so long. The commander refused to let me come up here but I finally made it, so let's head back." _

_"No, I like it here. I'm never going back down there," stated Angelica firmly. "You can leave."_

_"What? Angelica, you can't call the military whenever you want and do things like this. You even stopped taking your treatment, you're coming back right now, I don't care what you say." He grabbed her thin, frail wrist and yanked her out of the chair. I tried to go after her but when I got on my feet, the whole floor was spinning and standing took some of my breath away. Angelica screamed and raged, her body convulsing abruptly; scared of what was happening, Mercucio released her and she began trembling on the floor. "What is wrong with you-?"_

_"I'M NEVER GOING BACK HOME, GET OUT!"_

_"Angel-"_

_"_Out!_" When I had the strength I walked over to her and she hugged me again. Her angry tears were soaking through my outgrown clothes. Mercucio grimaced at me and then stormed out of the room. We quietly embraced each other until the door slid open again, this time one of Professor Ivory's assistants at the door. "The Professor wants to see you Don," he said emotionlessly and quietly. Angelica was reluctant to leave my embrace but she did eventually and I nodded reassuringly to her. I went along with the assistant towards Professor Ivory's lab, where I had been reborn as a superhuman. Along the way were grey uniformed officers, men and women who had mixed feelings about me-some abhorred me and others didn't seem to care. I could hear Angelica's steps behind me, I didn't bother to tell Drew, the assistant, about her following us. When we got to his office, Drew stood next to Professor Ivory, who had just surpassed the age of fifty and looked seventy years old. "I'm glad that you've awakened Don."_

_"Why are there military officials here?" I asked, looking at Mercucio who was standing in the back of the room where the lab equipment used to be. The glassware, the flasks, the pods and machines had been removed, leaving only a desk in here. "You and Angelica caused a ruckus when you took my escape pod more than a year ago. Palengitis has spread all across the continent thanks to Angelica's contact with people down there who aren't immune to it. Since you were taken to the hospital and couldn't be operated on, T.A.N.K. discovered what we were doing up here and they've given me a choice," said Professor Ivory gravely. "I'd let the military deal with Angelica and the Palengitis outbreak, sparing you and everyone else here or they'd kill everyone having to do with everything."_

_"You didn't fulfill your end of the bargain Professor, Angelica refuses to return so we changed our minds," Mercucio suddenly pushed me to the side and put a bullet in Professor Ivory and his assistants' heads. I screamed for them but Mercucio shoved me back towards the wall, the service pistol digging into the side of my head. "Killing you would be pointless wouldn't it? You'd just fall asleep and then wake up a few months from now right?"_

_"How-?"_

_"The Professor told me everything that was going up here. Listen to me carefully before I have my men slaughter all of your scientist friends. Because we won't be able to get Angelica to cooperate, I have to eliminate everything related to her, including her. But I'm her brother, I couldn't do that to my sick, baby sister, so you'll do it," he shoved the gun in my hands. "If she leaves the ship, the entire continent of Graham will be infected and so will the rest of the world. She has to die." I didn't want Angelica to die, he said it as if there was no other option. He wanted me to kill the only person who ever mattered me to me. The Professor was dead and I was sure everyone else was too-Angelica's brother was lying about sparing the other scientists. "Do the world a favor." _

_"I need-to find her," I replied as I pushed him off me and stormed out the office. I heard Angelica's noisy footsteps down the emergency stairwell, there was no doubt that she followed me and eavesdropped on us. Knowing that she feared me at that moment tainted the seeds of hope she planted in my heart as I pursued her. When we left the stairwell, she was starting to run past the huge window; the skies were grey and the clouds were thick. "Angelica, stop!" She panted but listened to me and froze by the window. Her face was horrified, stricken with grief, fear, and tears. "I can't do this."_

_She swallowed hard as my eyes began to tear up and I mustered the strength to raise the pistol at her innocent face. I couldn't hold my arm straight, it kept trembling. Angelica's frail figure made it so much harder to aim-I couldn't let Professor Ivory die in vain. But I couldn't kill my only best friend, the one who made me smile, the one who made me cry, the one who made laugh, the one who I rode the Ferris Wheel with, the one who ate funnel cake with me, and the one who made me like grilled cheese sandwiches. "Don, there's-"_

_One bullet went into her chest and another one pierced her skull. I never figured out what she was going to say next. I didn't want to know what she would say, it would've clouded my already twisted judgement._

_'''_

_Mercucio had his men behind him when he entered my room. "I need my sister's body. She can't be buried here." I clung to her body greedily, I wouldn't let them take away my best friend, my only friend. Mercucio stepped forward, his cold face starting into mine. "She can't be buried here."_

_"You can't have her, no one can," I mumbled with anguish as I brought her decaying, foul-smelling body closer to me. Mercucio bent down and I jerked back, squeezing Angelica as if she were a part of my heart I couldn't let go. "No one." When his hands touched her body my arms trembled-without a struggle he took her away and had her limp body in his arms. Before he left the room he spat on me and then left me alone in my room. T.A.N.K killed everyone, Mildred, Drew, they didn't leave a soul on the Air Fortress. I didn't have a soul, it died when Angelica did. The service pistol Mercucio gave me reposed next to me-I picked it up and dug into my temple. I was unable to die but I really hoped I could; after I pulled it, I woke up five years later no longer on the Air Fortress and the Professor you know now discovered me soon after. _

* * *

I'm stunned, unable to speak a word to the grieving Don. It all made sense, the way he treats me, how he responds to the Professor, everything about him stems from the day he ended her life. I glance at the empty plate of the grilled cheese sandwich, thinking about how Angelica would've liked it. I try to assure him, "It wasn't your fault, you know."

"I was supposed to keep Angelica up there, she didn't want to leave. Yet I let her go," says Don in a tone lacking any feelings. It seems like he's rambling to himself. "I was supposed to make sure you remained here until the Professor was done with you, but I couldn't do that either. Maybe if I go back to a time when everything was easier to see and feel, I could be better." Before I could reassure him otherwise, he suddenly starts hollering, dropping on his knees and thrashing on the floor. I get to my feet and hurry to the bars to see his body contorting in awkward positions. As suddenly as it came, the screaming stops and Don is all fours calmly. "What-are you ok?" I ask worriedly. He gets to his feet and that's when I notice his jacket sleeves reach to his wrists and his pants touch the ground. Nonchalantly, he stretches his arms and legs, cracking them a little, and then faces me. "You-you changed." All traces of his facial hair were gone, his cheekbones had a bit more fat on them and his ruby-red pupils are slightly bigger. His height decreased substantially but he's still taller than me by inches.

"What're you looking at?" his voice isn't as deep as it usual is. I turn away from him, trying to figure out what just happened. Did he-change his age? He said in the story that he couldn't die, what does that mean? "I need to change my clothes." He leaves me alone to contemplate the extraordinary event. The more I think about it, the more my head hurts-he'll have to explain it to me later. I gasp aloud, realizing something in the progress of figuring out what happened to Don. "It's my birthday today," I whisper to myself. A loud alarm goes off and has me covering my ears; the lights flash bright red. "INTRUDER, INTRUDER, INTRUDER," is announced by a robotic voice.

Could it be Korbin, the murderer of my parents? Seth, my friend that's out to bring this world to the Darkness? Who's out there? The door opens and a train of soldiers runs across the cells carrying guns, unable to see me. I have to speak up, I can't be in here forever, I'm sorry Don, I really am. "Help me, please!"

' ' '

Nathaniel, the soldier who broke the code and got me out, explained what was going on. He told me some friend of mine tipped them and told them about the hideout and that they were getting me out of here. "Randal, me and the girl are behind you!" he shouts as I run in front of him. The way out was like a complex tunnel system, I've been underground this whole time and never realized it. "Randal?" A man goes crashing into the pebble-concocted wall, immediately unconscious. Wearing fitting clothes this time, Don glowered at the soldier Nathaniel. "Mia, get behind me. Stay where you are!" Nathaniel orders. With a furious growl, Don tackles him down and they wrestle for the gun on Nathaniel' side. I step away from them, watching in horror. "Kid, get over here, we're taking you out."

"You're not taking her away!" protests Don, making my heart sink. He sounds like an enraged, adolescent teenager instead of the adult I know him as, this is really weird.

Another soldier rises to her feet far behind me, gesturing for me to come. "Let's go kid!" I look back at Don, who looks like a wild animal as he mercilessly beats Nathaniel. I can't help but feel bad for leaving him like this, after everything that happened to Angelica and I'm gonna leave him like this? Seth's on his way, I have to be ready for him. "Sorry," I whisper to Don. Before I turn away, I catch a glimpse of him stopping his assault, paralyzed like a deer in headlights; I make a run towards the female soldier.

_J.G.P._

**It's about time Mia get herself out of there. Well anywho, this ludacracy with Seth and friends is coming real soon. Hope y'all can deal cuz flashback time is officially over.**


End file.
